SAN DIEGO » Trimming overgrown shrubs may have won Juvencio Adame praise from neighbors, but it also brought the San Diego man a felony charge from prosecutors.

U-T San Diego reported Saturday that 46-year-old Adame was charged with defacement, damage and destruction in excess of $400 after he pruned shrubbery on city land next to his Ocean Beach property in July.

Adame told neighbors that the shrubs in the neighborhood popular with surfers had become a haven for homeless people to sleep and litter.

Adame is due in court Thursday. He and the district attorney’s office declined to comment on the case.

Neighbor Glenn Goss says the case is a waste of taxpayer money and that Adame is being prosecuted for doing the kind of pruning that city workers ought to do.